Dead guys not really dead in this cigar store

Here is a little story you may like. It's true.

In the fall of 1891, the town site of Everett, Wash., bustled with new growth and industry. The town's first undertaker, John T. Rogers, constructed a small building next door to new hotel and saloon. Stylish coffins lay in his back room. Until his business could take hold, Rogers sold newspapers, magazines and tobacco in the front of the building.

Late one night, Rogers was awakened by a customer in dire need of tobacco. Moments after Rogers let him into the store, the man spied five men in caskets. He ran from the store in fear, yelling to everyone in the saloon next door about dead men in the cigar store. When the noisy bar crowd clamored inside, instead of finding corpses, they found sleeping men who Rogers later referred to as his "lodgers." As an entrepreneur, he took advantage of the shortage of hotel beds in the booming town by offering his unused coffins as beds. His guests appreciated the shelter during the cold and wet Pacific Northwest winter.